The Most For Your Convenience

I bow with the utmost respect when I meet the occasional “Tigerrr” tightwad that does not compromise, and instead refuses to buy convenience. However, I am not one of these Tigerrr’s so when I need to, or choose to, I rather stretch out whatever the convenience's worth as much as possible.

Option One:

Buying on sale. Finding and waiting for the best price for something is the next financially smart route to go, (the first being go without or make it yourself). Check out the sale ads and, stalk your prey. Wait for the lowest price, and STRIKE! For added financial peace of mind when bringing home the “kill,” combine this method with option two below.

Option Two:

Using a coupon. Do your best to find a coupon. Many tightwads will argue the need for coupons, but I look at it this way. If you study/stalk the ads; with coupons you can often times receive items for free or for very little. Often these are convenience items; many tightwads will argue the use of convenience items by any means. This is how I look at it: if it is free, or almost free, made possible by a coupon and sale, if you don’t want to use it in your home, donate it to a shelter or food pantry. If you use it yourself, if it came in a lot of packaging as a lot of convenience items do, recycle as much as possible, and try to reuse what you cannot.

In Any Case:

Buy as little, save as much, and use and stretch as much as your little tightwad self can muster. For instance:

I sometimes buy muffin mixes in the “little blue” boxes or packets when on a really great sale. Ordinarily the box suggests using ¼ cup of milk and 1 egg. Try doing what I do instead: I use ½ cup of milk and spread the mix in a pan instead of muffins. This seems to sustain us longer than when making muffins. When I really want to stretch the mix I add instead two eggs, the ½ cup milk and ¼ cup the all- purpose baking mix I listed (see article, "The Myths and Truths of Mary Contrary Tightwad" for recipe). Bake as muffins or spread into a pan.

We knew we were in trouble when our first child started asserting when she wanted “fast food” (the kings of convenience). We would be riding along happily in our very frugally bought car, when our little one who could not yet even talk would very loudly yell from the backseat, “MMMMM” while pointing franticly out the window at the golden arches.

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